A New Trial for Dute?

The Anderson Township woman who starred in home-made porn videos should get a new day in court, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.
Jennifer Dute, 33, was convicted last year of pandering obscenity and sentenced to one year in prison. She was imprisoned Dec. 5 but released June 2 when the Cincinnati-based Ohio First District Court of Appeals ruled she should get a new trial due to an error by Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Patrick Dinkelacker.

Dute, who appeared in the videos having several types of sex with a multitude of partners, agreed following a 1999 conviction on similar charges that she would not sell her videos in or from Hamilton County.

But she did sell them again here, was arrested by deputies for Hamilton County Sheriff Simon Leis Jr and subsequently convicted.

A divided appeals court overruled her conviction, though, noting Dinkelacker erred in not allowing Dute’s jury to view another porn video that a previous Hamilton County jury found not to be obscene.

Dute’s attorney, Louis Sirkin, wanted Dute’s jurors to compare that video with the ones she made, hoping to convince them her videos weren’t obscene.

Sirkin didn’t return calls Wednesday.

After the appeals court overturned her conviction, Hamilton County Prosecutor Mike Allen’s office appealed the ruling.

That was the appeal rejected Wednesday by the Ohio Supreme Court.

Prosecutors are studying the ruling and unsure if they will continue to press charges, fight the appeal, offer a plea bargain or seek a new trial.